3 The Agony of Greed

Fire. A raging fiery tempest roared high, covering the sky with smoke from the burning homes. The crackling of the fire was camouflaged by the screaming civilians as they rushed away from the chaos.

Women held their children close, trying to calm them while some were not able to stop their own panic.

Farmers and merchants grabbed whatever was closest to them to defend their families and goods. But their effort remained fruitless as the fire continued devouring and the soldiers continued purging the men of the town.

Occasionally soldiers would break off the main unit to chase down fleeing women, with their intentions leaking through their wry smiles.

The fire, growing as if breathing its life on everything, covering the sun and blocking any flow of fresh air from reaching the ground. Smoke blocked alleyways, making them appear as dark cavern tunnels.

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A door behind the counter creaked open, grabbing Emilia's attention with its irritating screech. The short dwarf walked through the door which stood nearly three times his size.

Mike's hands holding various cuts of meat, some larger than others. The colours of the meat varied, some were a light pink and some gave off a smoky yellow hue.

Emilia seemed to completely give in to her body's reaction to the beautiful selection of meats. Her hand kept trying to rub off the seemingly endless saliva.

Mike placed all the meats into the basket, making sure the meats don't squish each other. His hand reached under the counter to pull out a small wheel of cheese.

''The cheese is on the house. In total it will cost you two gold coins and seventy-three silver.'' He spoke without lifting his head from his small notebook.

Emilia's hand reached over the wooden counter and dropped the coins into the extended palm of the dwarf. His hand ducked below the counter, some muffled clicking sounds followed.

She waved the man goodbye as she exited the shop, content with her purchases. Her faint smile quickly turned into a stoic mask as she stared at the path. Emilia's senses screamed at her that something was off.

A bead of sweat slowly slid down the side of her face, past her nose, and down to her jaw. The temperature was warmer. Not just the temperature, but the cool breeze from earlier had completely vanished.

She twisted her body from side to side to get a better look at the situation. Aside from the natural changes, nothing stood out as different or foreign to her.

Lowering herself to a lunge position, Emilia positioned herself in the middle of the empty road. The long dress she had worn took on the shape of her lower half as she kicked off the ground into a sprint.

As she blurred in front of houses, Emilia's head scanned the area for any possible civilians. She stared in confusion at the lack of life after the large crowd from earlier.

Nails flew onto the floor from the impact of the door flying open. Emilia swung the basket onto a large wooden table, underneath which a little dragon slept.

After grabbing a staff that had leaned against the frame of the door, Emilia's feet dug holes in the paved road, launching slabs of stone into the air. Her unfathomable speed generated gusts of wind trying to drag her back as her pace only quickened towards the now visible stack of smoke reaching the sky.

The mountain of smoke came into view as Emilia neared the northern side.

With a swift attack with her staff, the body of a soldier flew several metres back. His armoured bloodied, crumpled into his chest.

The mother holding her child close tried to hide what had just happened. She looked up towards the staff-wielding Emilia with more fear than what the soldier had been capable of.

''E-Emilia. What d-did you just do? You just took a life.'' Her voice trembled while clinging on to her young kid.

Emilia just stood, gripping the bloodied staff with her right hand. Her eyes, hidden by her bangs. But she could not stop the smile from spreading from ear to ear.

Her left arm slowly raised, pointing the palm towards the barely living soldier that laid sprawled out on the ground. ''Firebolt''.

Flame erupted from her palm, shooting forward like a speeding bullet. The magnificent flare burned the body of the soldier who could no longer contain his scream. His agony sounded like nails on a chalkboard.

The child's face, no longer buried in her mother's chest but stared directly at the scorching corpse. Emilia turned her head into view for the mother and daughter to see her manic face.

Her hand reached for the chin of the terrorized mother to caress her. At that moment alone, the small family had felt peace for the first time during this calamity.

Emilia's face remained crazed as her hand slowly moved to comfort the two. Her smirk spread further into her face, almost as if carved with a knife. ''Erupt''

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The raging inferno continued to burn on, covering the sky with its smoke that ascended into the sky like a dark miasma. If the roads weren't littered with soldiers you would expect a dragon to have committed this genocide.

Guzzling down beers and sipping wines. While drunk from alcohol, they had also been drunk with power over the defenceless women they had gathered from the ensuing chaos.

Having not stopped at all since their arrival in the town, they neared their target's home. Chatter filled the small gaps in the battalion as they laughed at the men who had been culled like animals.

They were led by Darius the great strategist, who was known even among the largest kingdoms as one who could pull off a war against a godly entity. With this recognition from such figures his ego skyrocketed.

Emilia stood, staring at houses in front of her, staring as if something more was there. Past the few houses, a large force marched towards the centre of the town.

A small group of soldiers approached Emilia who had still been analysing the path towards the battalion. Her staff hung low in the palm of her hand, stretching out to roughly two metres in length.

The soldiers surrounded Emilia whose gaze lowered to the ground. A shadow concealed her face, a smile crept from the middle of her face all the way to the ear...but something was off. Her pearly white teeth were replaced with a glowing burgundy hue.

Her head slowly raised up, revealing that the void-like black remained plastered to her skin. Beaming red eyes stared back at the gazes of the terrified soldiers whose weapons were trembling from the demonic entity that stood before them.

The shadow spread from her body to the staff she had been holding, enveloping the staff in a void filled with small red blotches. A scythe-like blade grew at the tip of the staff that had jagged edges which dripped with darkness.

Her figure disappeared and appeared to contort in mid-air as she circled the soldiers, shredding the armour off their legs with small sharp cuts. Blood dripped down around where an afterimage had been left by Emilia. A demonic noise erupted from her crooked smile.

''Ą̵̰̑̈́H̵̞͚̀Ä̴̢̮́͛̌̿͐̀̍̿͛̀Ḧ̸̨̗̻́̂͌̇͜͝Ȁ̴̗̻̼͌̈́̈̓̃͒͝H̴͇̺͕̰̽̀̐̕Â̸͔͈̰̩̞̳̞͚̅̋́͐̽̅H̵͇̯̯̰̙̓̌̏A̴̻͚͖͆̀̈́̽̾̒̉̚͝ͅ''

''P-please miss, don't this-s! We have f-families to take care of. Have you no heart for us fathers? Have mercy on us!'' They stared at her with horror laid on their face, gripping their bloodied legs.

''Ṁ̸̨̧̜̩̖̯͓̹̱̒ͅè̵͚̙̜̺͈̖̘̟̄̌̅̿͊̚͠ͅr̴̡͎̼͉̽̀͋̑̔͝ͅc̶̰̻̲̥̰̃́̑͐́̓̄y̴͇̝̫͇̝̞̒̌̈́͆̐̑̓̓͐̌?̸̲̭̍̈͂͋̂͘̚ ̵͕̤̣̗̭̇̀͗̀̀̎̈́̈́̄̒͜S̴̢̙̫̤̹͖̙̪̯͛̾̕ͅp̴̛̬̼̩͓̙͑̅̓͆͘͝͝i̶̛̲͕̦̲̫̺̪̦͚͊͗̍́̓͌͛̚n̴͈̤̳̲͈̅̑̈́̽͐̄̐̀̕͘ẽ̷̡̥͎̻̰̝͇̹̯̏̐̀̌͗̄l̷̨̢̢̛̥̳͎̯͕̘̈́͗̄̀͐̋̃̉̐ȇ̶̫̳̫͖͎͉̺̤̦̤̐͑̈́̊͛͑̃š̶̨̘̹͂͂̋͊͐͌͝s̴̫̤̽̄̈̎̀́̆̈́̈́͠ ̵̨̡̨̛͎͕͈̮̪̓̊̔c̵̣̰̞͑͂̕ͅȏ̶͙͓͙͒͊̑w̸̘̬̝̻̗͎͐̎̋́͂́͝͠͝ͅẫ̷̡͉̩͎̘̣̟͇́͋͆r̶̦̙̈́d̴̢̢͕͔͉̙̤̪͕̀̑͋͗͑̕ͅs̴̛̱̥͉̋͒̑̓͆̌͑̕.̵̳̫̰̦̬̹̗̙͎͛̓͂''

Their cowardice was vile, like a stinking corpse left out in the scorching sun for days on end.

The burgundy smile cracked a tiny bit more as indecipherable words encompassed the soldiers. A choir of demons singing the sins of the soldiers, millions of times over. It was maddening, a spectacle befitting the devil himself.

Tears flowed down the soldier's faces, mixing with blood and sweat. Their eyes spread wide as they stared at the dark figure. Behind her, the flames seemed to move to the movement of her scythe as if she was the conductor of this mad symphony.

Her scythe became a blur as it swiped at the soldiers. Their expression remained forever still on the rolling heads. A pool of dark red sludge flowed towards Emilia.

The dark red sludge flowed underneath Emilia's feet where it drained into her. Cracks spread from her feet all the way up to her neck as if something was trying to break free of the vessel it had been imprisoned in.

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Darius' eyes widened after sensing a godly entity approaching them at a high speed. ''So 'that' was hiding here.'' His confident smirk had disappeared only to be replaced by his tensed jaw.

''Men! Listen up, if we do not march faster than this mission will fail. Someone, or rather, something is approaching that will slaughter in mere seconds.''

''Don't bullshit us, captain, we outnumber any force they could conjure up by at least a hundredfold. There is no way we can lose with such an advantage!'' The bravery of the soldier was met by others with the same thoughts as the mass rebutted against their commander.

''I see that I have been too lenient with you soldiers. So listen up! Anyone and I mean anyone who disobeys my orders from this point on will receive capital punishment!'' Darius roared over the wave of silver that had been protesting moments before.

The soldiers marched on, afraid of the consequences that would arise if they were not complacent. They marched forward in unison, sounding like rolling thunder as their heavy silver armour stomped on the paved road.

Darius' guess was that it would take a few minutes for 'it' to catch up with them. His gaze directed towards the destination, the target's home. A shadow draped over him from high above, his eyes growing wider from the realisation of what was going on.

The raging inferno of red, orange, and yellow turned to darkness. A void where no light could enter. A burning furnace cooking the armour-bearers alive along with their sins.

Gazes of the soldiers turned towards the eerie burgundy smile that became the only light source in the abyss-like cage. Large red eyes beamed down at them as if a child had drawn them on the sky.

Color returned to the town revealing the contorted figure of Emilia holding a scythe that had towered above the soldiers. Words flowed across the handle of the staff in a language that had died out long ago.

With a single swipe of her scythe more than a dozen heads flew. Fire erupted from the bodies of the decapitated as if the tip of the firework had been snapped off.

Emilia's body burst into a dance by the name of 'Samba' with her partner being the scythe. Her erratic movements kicked waves of flames. Heads flying while she continued her convulsive dance that only brought death to those watched.

No hesitation was in her slashes. It flowed like water through all the soldiers. All you could see were the red blurs from the sword. It moved at a speed which the eyes could not track. No one even tried to attack back.

Most soldiers remained entranced by the peculiar dance while some took their own lives as they watched the typhoon of calamity approaching them with flames encompassing the demon.

Darius snapped his head only to be met by the eyes of the red demon dancing her way through the powerless soldiers. She neared at a terrifying speed.

His shaky arm grabbed the hilt of his sword which was sheathed in a wooden scabbard. Words flowed out of his mouth as he chanted words in a language only spoken by the elves.

An emerald vine pattern spread across the flat of the sword which now glowed, radiating life.

The flurry of swipes slowed as it reached the target, the host of the green light. Emilia stared at the frightened expression on the man's face as he struggled to hold up his sword.

Darius stood face to face with the being of darkness herself. His body trembled at the thought of having to fight such a creature. His knees buckling down, the sword hit the ground and shuddered from the impact.

''Wₕₐₜ ₐ wₒₙdₑᵣfᵤₗ ₛᵢₜᵤₐₜᵢₒₙ ᵣᵢgₕₜ? ₜwₒ ₘᵤᵣdₑᵣₑᵣₛ ₛₜₐₙdᵢₙg fₐcₑ ₜₒ fₐcₑ. ₜwₒ cₐₗₐₘᵢₜᵢₑₛ. ₜwₒ ₘₒₙₛₜₑᵣₛ. ₜwₒ ₚᵤᵣgₑᵣₛ. Yₑₜ ᵢ ₛₜₐₙd ₐbₒᵥₑ yₒᵤ. ₕₐᵥₑ yₒᵤ ₙₒₜₕᵢₙg ₜₒ ₛₐy ₜₒ ₘₑ?'' Emilia's voice was calm yet full of disgust melted into the ear of the coward.

The creature took three steps forward and lowered herself to the eye level of Darius. Tilting her head slightly '̾'̾W̾e̾l̾l̾?̾'̾'̾

A roar erupted from Darius' mouth as he screamed in agony. Blood leaked from his mixing hands. Emilia's scythe moved at an unfathomable speed as she swiped them away.

The blood flowed into the scythe which glowed brighter than before. The synthetic weapon let out flares like a sun, only that these were darker than the void.

''J-Just what are you?'' His voice trembled as his mouth was filled with saliva and blood. His gaze locked onto the demon.

Emilia's smile grew once more as the cracks spread, letting out two words '̴̢̦̩̤̼̋͜'̶̩̲̯̇ͅỶ̴̧͉͈̈́͆́̚ͅo̶̺͙̟͚̞͓̎̈̈́͘u̴̖͎̐͊̌̔̀̑͝͝r̷̛̞̂̆̿́͂͗̚ ̷̡͈̪͍̀́̈͋͗̕̕͘͘N̴̡̗͙̳̖͓̳̮̊̉̽͗̊̐̚ͅí̵̛̱͔̥̻͈̝̅͋͛́̔̿̀̎͜g̴̢̝̋͊̕h̵̡̖̝̼̟̲̓͒t̸̡̫̝̬̏̍̉͋̈́̿̕͘m̵̻̖̰̜̩̫̽a̴͇̲̜͌̑̎͒̑̈́̏͜ŕ̷͚͎̳͇͙͔̺̥̯̞̂̄͝ě̵̥̬̣̳̠̼̰̝̹̌̈͗̂̑̚͠'̴̡͋̉̓̋͝'̶̮͋̀̐́͆͛́͊̑̋

The scythe severed the head of the leader as if cutting paper. The head of the mighty commander rolled as the soldiers stared in disbelief.

Everyone's gazes were fixated on the shadowy figure that had single-handedly slaughtered the leader of one of the strongest militaries.

Heads flew up, both of the soldiers and of what remained of the citizens. Flames erupted once more as they devoured everything once more.

No one must know the identity of the One Man Army.